Tragically, on July 27, 2021, Christopher Luis Delarosa died in Austin, Texas, hours after he was booked into the Travis County Jail. He had initially been denied entry due to a low oxygen level. He was re-admitted soon after, having been at a nearby hospital for medical observation.
County jails in Texas are regulated by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). Health care services are integral to many activities within the jail. For instance, TCJS has approved the use of restraints when inmates are an immediate danger to themselves or others. Restraint chairs are among the approved restraint systems.
RULE §273.6-Restraints
The following are among the jail requirements with regard to inmates placed in restraints, including restraint chairs:
Before anyone can be placed in a restraint such as a restraint chair, an authorized member of the jail staff must assess the medical condition of the inmate.
After an inmate has been in a restraint for two hours, he or she must receive medical care. The protocol is that an opportunity to use the restroom facilities must be included as well as exercising the extremities, taking vital signs, offering liquids and food, and checking to determine whether medication is needed.
Special considerations must be given to pregnant inmates, per the above-referenced rule.
The maximum time frame in which an inmate can be held in restraints is 24 hours, though the TCJS guideline specify that an inmate should be removed from restraints when the threat of harm no longer exists.
The intention of posts on this website is to assist Texas county jail inmates. There is no intention to suggest that persons or entities have been involved in misdeeds.
Christopher Luis Delarosa was examined before being admitted into the Travis County Jail in Austin, Texas, on the morning of July 26, 2021, and he was denied admittance due to his oxygen level. After going to a hospital, he was released the same day and booked into the jail that afternoon. Fewer than 16 hours later, he was pronounced dead, presumably due to natural causes.
Continuing from the first part of this series, training of jailers for the purpose of recognizing signs that an inmate may be suicidal is required by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). The following are examples of warning signs that an inmate may be suicidal.
Signs an Inmate is Potentially Suicidal
The following are examples of high-alert warning signs to watch for beyond intake screening that an inmate may be at risk of suicide:
An inmate may be pushed over the emotional edge as a result of the threat or occurrence of rape.
Being placed in isolation or segregation can trigger suicidal activity.
Approximately 33% of jail suicides happen when the time for court hearings is near. Of those, 69% occur within two days of the hearing, both before and after.
Bad news from friends and family during visits or phone calls is a trigger for suicide among inmates. More than 20% of jail suicides occur in close proximity to a visit or telephone call, and of those suicides, 67% occur less than 24 hours after the visit or call.
The posts on this website are intended as helpful resources for county jail prisoners in Texas. There is no intent to infer misdeeds on the part of persons or institutions.
Christopher Luis Delarosa died at age 32 while in the custody of the Travis County Sheriff’s Department in the Travis County Jail in Austin, Texas. He was booked at 3:39 pm the afternoon of July 26, 2021, and was pronounced dead at 6:54 am the next day. The custodial death report on Mr. Delarosa’s passing indicated that he died of apparent natural causes pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology report.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) provides minimum jail standards that guide county jail operations in the state. Many of the rules for jails address matters of safety intended to help ensure inmate safety, which includes custodial suicides. Inmates are at risk in general when it comes to the potential for suicide. Even though certain rules guide the intake process in a way that will help equip jailers to identify prisoners who are particularly vulnerable to attempting suicide, no system could be foolproof. The fact that an inmate denies suicidal ideation does not mean he or she is not at risk.
The rate of suicide in lock-up facilities is significantly higher than the rate of suicide outside the confines of jails. It is essential for jailers to be trained in identifying evidence that an inmate may be suicidal. Signs they may identify indicating that an inmate needs the added supervision provided in the housing area for at-risk prisoners will be included in the next segment of this continuing series.
This site provides posts to benefit inmates in county jail facilities in Texas. There is never an intention to denote that individuals or organizations have participated in wrongdoing.
Patsy Rosas, age 47, entered the Baytown, Texas, jail not long before midnight on September 1, 2021. She was placed in a cell and reported as being fine a couple of hours later at 1:30 am on September 2, 2021. Minutes before her death at 4:12 am, when a jailer checked her cell at 3:30 am, however, Ms. Rosas was face-down and blood was on the ground around her head.
Inmate supervision is achieved with face-to-face observations or cell checks by jailers. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS), the organization that sets minimum jail standards in Texas county jails, requires certain intervals in which these observations must take place. Studies on custodial deaths and on jail suicides, in particular, have found that direct supervision is the greatest deterrent to custodial deaths.
It is often a concern when annual jail inspections reveal that Texas jails have been non-compliant in areas that contribute to the safety of inmates. Failing to provide supervision as directed by TCJS is often recorded in Jail Inspection Reports. The following is an example.
CHAPTER 275-SUPERVISION OF INMATES; RULE §275.1-Regular Observation by Jailers
The general population in jails must be observed in intervals not to exceed every 60 minutes.
In a Jail Inspection Report dated April 18, 2018, a Texas county jail’s observation logs pertaining to RULE §275.1 showed that the 60-minute face-to-face observation requirements were continuously exceeded by 1 to 3 minutes.
This site provides posts to benefit inmates in county jail facilities in Texas. There is never an intention to denote that individuals or organizations have participated in wrongdoing.
At 11:33 pm on September 1, 2021, Patsy Rosas was booked into the city jail in Baytown, Texas, by the Baytown Police Department. The 47-year-old was discovered face-down and bloody at 3:36 am on September 2, 2021. Emergency measures were initiated but she was pronounced dead before another half hour had passed.
The intake process developed by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards was touched upon in Part 1 of this continuing series. The intake process was the topic of an in-depth study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Corrections (NICIC). The purpose was to discover where improvements might be made. Data from the study suggested that improved integration of the needs assessment, institutional and community risk, and case management planning and processes are needed to achieve the following goals:
Maximize resources;
Enhance the security and safety of correctional facilities and surrounding communities;
More effectively prepare inmates for their release; and
Provide support to the communities in which inmates are released.
Obstacles to Inmate Intake Assessments
The study about intake procedures also found that the following were areas of the intake process that should be improved:
Ensure timely access to probation and parole violation data.
Link data from courts, parole, and probation offices.
Address the shortage of bed and administrative space.
Ensure that risk and needs assessment instruments are up-to-date, valid, and currently relevant.
Posts on this website are meant as helpful resources to assist prisoners housed in county jails in Texas. At no time is there an intention to infer that people or entities have engaged in misdeeds.
Less than five hours after she was booked into the Baytown, Texas, city jail by the Baytown Police Department, 47-year-old Patsy Rosas was found on the floor with blood around her head. Chest compressions were applied until EMS got to the scene. She was transported to a medical facility, where she was pronounced dead on September 2, 2021, at 4:12 am.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards provides the minimum jail standards for Texas county jails. Inmate classification is an important part of the booking process. Female inmates must be separated from male inmates by sight and sound. Each inmate is to be classified appropriately to be placed in the least restrictive housing available at that time without placing inmates, the public, or staff members in jeopardy. The following are risk factors considered with regard to each inmate:
Escape history;
Current conviction or offense;
History of offense;
Prior convictions;
History of institutional discipline;
Drug and/or alcohol abuse; and
Stability of the individual.
Assessments are aimed at determining whether inmates should be in minimum, medium, or maximum custody levels. Another consideration is the placement and release of prisoners to and from special units. Examples include inmates placed in:
Administrative separation
Protective custody
Disciplinary separation
Mental and medical health housing, including pregnant inmates
Learn more in this continuing series.
Posts on this website are meant as helpful resources to assist prisoners housed in county jails in Texas. At no time is there an intention to infer that people or entities have engaged in misdeeds.
The Baytown Police Department, in Texas, filed a custodial death report regarding the death of Patsy Rosas. Ms. Rosas was only 47 years old at the time of her death. We provide in this post information we obtained from that report, and we make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone related to Ms. Rosas’ death.
The summary portion of the report read in its entirety:
“REPORT BY OFFICER COX #102… ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2021, AT APPROXIMATELY 0336 HRS, I WAS FILLING OUT PAPERWORK AT THE MAIN DESK IN THE JAIL WHEN DETENTION OFFICER DARRYL STARR (B/M XX/XX/XXXX) YELLED FOR ME TO COME TO THE WOMANS BLOCK 4. OFFICER EDWARDS #162 WAS WITH ME AS WELL. WHEN I GOT TO THE BLOCK I OBSERVED A WHITE FEMALE, LATER IDENTIFIED AS PATSY ROSAS (W/F, XX/XX/XXXX) LYING FACE DOWN WITH THE TOP OF HER HEAD FACING WEST WITH A BLOOD POOL AROUND HER HEAD. STARR AND MYSELF TURNED HER OVER AND I CHECKED FOR BREATHING AND A PULSE BUT COULDN’T FIND ONE. I THEN STARTED ADMINISTERING CHEST COMPRESSIONS TO PATSY. WHILE ADMINISTERING CHEST COMPRESSION, I TOLD DETENTION OFFICER APRIL BRUNO (W/F, XX/XX/XXXX) TO GET THE AED READY TO BE USED. WITH THE HELP OF DETENTION OFFICER BLAKE HILL (W/M, XX/XX/XXXX), BRUNO WAS ABLE TO GET IT OUT AND I ASSISTED HER WITH PLACING THE CHEST PADS ON PATSY’S CHEST. FROM THERE I LET THE AED DO THE WORK UNTIL IT TOLD ME TO DO MORE CHEST COMPRESSIONS. I CONTINUED TO DO CHEST COMPRESSIONS UNTIL BAYTOWN EMS MEDIC 4 ARRIVED ON SCENE TO TAKE OVER. MEDIC WORKED ON PATSY IN THE BLOCK UNTIL THEY COULD GET HER READY FOR TRANSPORT. LET IT BE KNOWN, PATSY WAS BROUGHT IN TO THE BAYTOWN JAIL BY OFFICER PIGG #92 ON XX/XX/XXXX AT APPROXIMATELY 2255 HRS ON A PROSTITUTION CHARGE OUT OF HARRIS COUNTY. LATER AFTER EVERYTHING CALMED DOWN, I ASKED STARR WHAT HAPPENED. STARR ADVISED EVERYTHING WAS OKAY WITH PATSY WHEN THE 0130 CELL CHECK WAS COMPLETED. STARR FURTHER ADVISED WHEN DETENTION OFFICER HILL CONDUCTED THE 0330 CELL CHECK PATSY WAS FOUND LYING ON THE GROUND AND THEN THAT’S WHEN HE ALONG WITH BRUNO WAS CALLED DOWN TO THE BLOCK. STARR ADVISED HE WALKED DOWN OBSERVED PATSY ON THE GROUND AND SHOOK HER AND CHECKED FOR A PULSE BUT COULDN’T FIND ONE, STARR ADVISED HE CALLED FOR EMS AND THEN CALLED FOR ME. CDR Reports :: Page 3 of 3 I CONTACTED HILL WHO ADVISED WHILE HE WAS DOING THE 0330 CELL CHECK, HE PEERED INSIDE CELL BLOCK 4 AND NOTICED A PAIR OF FEET STICKING OUT FROM BEHIND THE WALL IN THE BATHROOM AREA AND CALLED FOR A SUPERVISOR TO COME DOWN AND TO CHECK IT OUT. WHEN THEY WENT INSIDE AND OBSERVED PATSY ON THE FLOOR, HILL ADVISED HE AND BRUNO GOT THE OTHER SUBJECTS IN THE CELL BLOCK OUT. I STAYED ON SCENE UNTIL SGT JONES #20 ARRIVED. OFFICER EDWARDS FOLLOWED EMS TO THE HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL. SEE EDWARDS SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION. LATER JONES ADVISED DETECTIVES WOULD BE MAKING THE SCENE.”
The report indicates that Ms. Rosas did not make suicidal statements and/or exhibit any mental health problems. It appears, based upon the report, that the jail conducted rounds only once every two hours. While municipal jails are not governed by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, good practice requires rounds at much shorter intervals. County jails are required to conduct rounds, depending on the status of the inmate, at much shorter intervals.
The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right of those who are in county jails to receive reasonable medical care, mental health care, and to be protected from themselves and others. This only makes sense, because people who are in the custody of someone else, and who have no control over food, clothing, and medical care, must be provided it as a matter of fundamental fairness and decency. If a person is not provided reasonable medical care and/or protected from himself or herself, and dies as a result, then certain family members may have claims related to the death.
Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.
Castlee Noble’s death at age 55 in Coryell County Jail, Gatesville, Texas, is the subject of a Custodial Death Report that provides details of his tragic passing on August 26, 2021. Many of the details sought in the report are awaiting results of his autopsy. Little is currently known other than his having refused prescription medications for a few days prior and that he was found unresponsive in the detox cell where he had been moved.
Several forms of restraint have been approved by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) for use in Texas county jails. Among those restraint systems are restraint chairs, which come from manufacturers with instructions indicating potential dangers. Currently, the final question on the Custodial Death Report form is whether the deceased inmate was being held in a restraint system in the time leading up to the fatality or the events causing the fatality.
The following is information on the potential dangers of restraint chairs.
Restraint Chairs – Potential Hazards
An individual held in a restraint chair is at an increased risk of suffering a potentially fatal blood clot, particularly when physical trauma proceeded the immobilization caused by being strapped into the chair. The force that is frequently used to strap in uncooperative inmates is a form of physical trauma.
A person in a restraint chair is at risk of serious injury or death if the person strapping them in has not read and/or does not understand how to properly place a person in the restraint system.
Learn more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this three-part series.
Posts on this website are intended as resources to assist current and former Texas inmates in the state’s county jails. There is never an intention of implying that individuals or entities have been involved in improprieties.
The custodial death of 55-year-old Castlee Noble in Gatesville, Texas, on August 26, 2021, is currently under investigation. He had been moved into a detox cell in Coryell County Jail so that he would have the benefit of more frequent medical observation. The report released by the Attorney General of Texas indicates that Mr. Noble began refusing his medications a few days prior to his death.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) monitors complaints pertaining to county jails, and medical care for inmates is routinely the subject of most complaints. Jail Inspection Reports seem to reveal that monitoring of medical care is difficult to detect with a few exceptions. Observation records track the care given to inmates who are held in restraints and supporting electronic records are also used to track medical attention given to inmates housed in detox cells.
The following are examples of jails in non-compliance with medical care provisions in these instances.
Noncompliance: RULE §273.6 (3) – Restraints
As approved by TCJS, inmates exhibiting behavior that could be a danger to themselves or others can be placed in restraints. Various rules specify procedures to be followed to ensure the safety of inmates in restraints, and medical care is included. The above-referenced rule states that in intervals not to exceed every 15 minutes, jailers must observe inmates in restraints. The observation includes verifying that the inmate’s circulation has not been cut off by the restraint system.
A TCJS inspector noted in a Jail Inspection Report dated June 7, 2021, that on two separate occasions in April 2021, the 15-minute face-to-face observations of inmates being held in restraints were not conducted.
Posts on this website are intended as resources to assist current and former Texas inmates in the state’s county jails. There is never an intention of implying that individuals or entities have been involved in improprieties.
Castlee Noble was booked into Coryell County Jail in Gatesville, Texas, on June 23, 2021. At some point in August 2021, Mr. Noble reportedly began refusing all of his prescription medications, and he was then moved to a detox cell for closer monitoring on August 24, 2021. During a cell check, Mr. Noble was found unresponsive and was pronounced dead on August 26, 2021.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) sets minimum jail standards for all Texas county jails, and those standards include the requirement of enhanced supervision in detox cells, as follows.
RULE §265.3 – Observation During Holding
This rule requires jailers to provide face-to-face checks of inmates confined in detoxification or holding cells at intervals that are not to exceed 30 minutes.
A non-compliant Texas jail was cited for violation of the rule addressing observation during holding in a September 23, 2020, Jail Inspection Report.
Non-Compliance Regarding RULE §265.3
The TCJS inspector documented the finding below:
Observations logs of inmates held in detoxification and holding cells showed that the required face-to-face observations of inmates at intervals that do not exceed 30 minutes were not routinely being performed in compliance with minimum jail standards.
Supervision of at-risk inmates has largely proven to be the most reliable way to put a stop to unnecessary custodial deaths.
Learn more in this ongoing series.
This website purposes to provide help for county jail inmates in Texas, whether they are currently or previously incarcerated. There is no intention to suggest that organizations or persons have engaged in wrongdoing.
